ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Ashleigh Deiter has experienced the frustration of having her car stolen not once, but three times in the city of Rochester.

Deiter’s car thefts have happened annually over the past three years. After her 2017 Hyundai was stolen the first time, she bought a steering wheel lock. Despite taking precautions, she still finds herself a victim. The latest incident happened February 11th on Chili Avenue at her mother’s home.

“It keeps me up at night at this point because it’s happened so many times and I got a new car. This isn’t just something that I’m going to forget about.”

The repeated incidents have left Deiter feeling violated. “The feeling is so much more violating the second and third time around,” she said. “Why does it keep happening?”

The stolen 2017 Hyundai was recovered early Thursday morning. Two teenagers, 14 and 16, were arrested. However, an arrest does not reverse the thousands of dollars in damage done to her vehicle. After the first theft, Dieter bought a Toyota Rav4 but still fears it too could be stolen.

Deiter believes the charges should be more severe. “Personally, I think it should be more than just criminal possession of stolen property. That doesn’t sound like you actively broke into and stole a vehicle. That’s just saying it was in your possession. That, in my opinion, that’s more of a not giving them as much responsibility and accountability.”

She is urging local leaders to do more to guide young people away from criminal activities. “The children in the city of Rochester are not given the resources that they need, and they’re being failed a lot by the school systems,” she said. “We’re not putting enough into making sure the children are having things to do outside of school or being educated enough in school.”

Deiter also believes Rochester Police Department can do more. “I just feel a lot that they think they can’t do much just to do anything about it. Or the officers feel like they can’t do much to do anything about it. And they’re stuck in that mindset of, well, then just do nothing at all.”

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